Banquet -> RE: Review @ Out of Eight (6/25/2007 9:20:02 PM)
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ORIGINAL: GoodGuy quote:
ORIGINAL: Banquet Apart from the extra costs and development time, you also have the problem that the game is so much harder to mod. ........ [] If Harpoon were 3d probably none of that would exist due to the difficulty modelling this stuff in 3d. Hi Banquet.... Nah, it's not necessarily harder, look at Silent Hunter III, a 3D game that had plenty of mods/improvements created by users, since it allowed for adding/changing scripts for vital parts, even the AI scripts could be accessed. Incorporating a 3D engine is rather a question of costs/manpower than anything else, in the wargame sector. Most of the Wargame developers either don't have the funds to license existing 3D engines, or they don't have the knowledge/tools/time to create a 3D-approach, as the time for developing fancy 3D stuff might take more than 2-3 yrs, keeping in mind the low amount of manpower present in these companies. If you look at games like "Westfront" (3D, Normandy theater IIRC), you see some 3D engines even in this genre, but most of these gfx in such games have kinda ancient looking gfx, they use to look pretty outdated already upon release. Ppl who support 3D gfx in wargames are convinced that such games could pull additional customers, if they'd have a minimum standard regarding presentation/visual quality, which, quite frankly, 98% of them just do not have. Since the developers stick to use 2D, hexes, stacks of small counters, etc, they won't be able to attract a broader customer base. Sometimes, it feels like a show meant to entertain a limited amount of ppl, where these ppl have to show their invitation at the entrance to get in, if u know what i mean. :D. quote:
Wargames are not like other games, where better graphics often mean a better playing experience (flight sims are an example of a game where better graphics always helps!) It depends on the type of approach. The general approach in TOW is very interesting (it seems that it has various bugs + shortcomings which have to be fixed tho), 3D does a good job to reenact armored warfare here, nevertheless. Hi GoodGuy, I know what you mean. There have certainly been a huge amount of mods for SHIII and there is a lot of talented people making those mods. However that seems to be the exception that I can think of.. If you look at 2D, versus 3D games, the 2D seem to have remained more popular. I.e Close Combat - still got a big following.. An attempt to do a similar game in 3D, Squad Assault never really caught on. ToW has potential, but to use an example in that.. that infantry can't use buildings for cover. There's no way if that game was in 2D that entering buildings would be a problem. Harpoon III - remains very popular.. a 3D alternative Fleet Command hasn't been so popular. I have nothing against 3D.. but in my experience they generally don't seem to measure up in wargames. It seems harder to control units in 3D versus 2D. I think sometimes it is asking too much to expect a small dev team to be AI coders, Wargame coders, History experts AND able to code great looking 3D graphics. A final point. The hardware to run wargames in 2D is a lot lower than the most recent top end 3D games. This means I can run COTA, CC:COI, Harpoon, etc on my budget spec laptop.. where unfortunately SHIII and IV won't run!
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